ATHENS – Turkey’s claims it detained a Egyptian with Greek citizenship because he was a spy eying military units was denied by Greece’s ruling New Democracy, the incident coming just before a key NATO meeting.

Media reports, including by Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News which cited a report from the Demiroren News Agency, said Turkish authorities arrested Mohamed Amar Ampara on charges of compiling information about the Turkish military on the border and transferring it to Greek intelligence. Ampara, the report claimed, was operating disguised as a businessman during his trips to Turkey and was being interrogated by the Turkish Intelligence Services after Greek officials for weeks said they were trying to locate him.

Greece’s government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said Ampara “has nothing to do with any Greek service” and criticized Turkey for failing to provide any information on his whereabouts.